Falling Alone
by coldfiredragon
Summary: A six year old Irvine struggles with his emotions after being sent to Galbadia Garden. Part I of the Silver Bullet Arc


**Disclaimer: I own no part of Final Fantasy VIII or any part of the Final Fantasy multiverse. No profit is being made on my part through use of the characters or settings mentioned within.**

**Spoiler warning ahead, don't read if you haven't finished disk 2 of the game.**

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**Summary: A six year old Irvine struggleswith his emotions after being sent away to Galbadia Garden. One-shot most likely unless I get tons and tons of reviews.

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A soft sob escaped his throat as he curled up a little tighter on the narrow twin bed that was foreign to him. This whole place was foreign to him. It had all happened so fast and he didn't understand why it had happened, why Matron had abandoned him.

He didn't understand why he was suddenly alone. Just a couple of days ago he had been happily living at an orphanage with other children his age. He had loved it there. It had been the only home he had known. Now he was here, completely alone, and terrified out of his mind.

He didn't know what he had done to be sent away so suddenly and his six year old mind couldn't process the fact that the only family he had ever known had abandoned him. His plight reminded him so much of Squall. Was this what Squall had felt like when Sis had left the orphanage? Had he felt this utter sense of loneliness that threatened to swallow him whole? He must have.

"What did I do?" He sobbed softly. He knew that the pillow he was clutching for dear life was soaked with his tears but he could not force himself to move and look around him. He didn't want to see the bare walls of his new dorm room or his unpacked suitcase that held his few meager memories of home.

He should have known that they would send him away. The signs had been all too clear. First Sis, then Quisty and Zell, followed by Seifer and Squall, until only he and Selphie had remained. The worst part about being forced to leave his home was that he had no idea what had happened to Selphie.

More tears flowed down his cheeks as he thought about the energetic five year old. That girl had become his best friend in the world and he loved her like she was his sister. The younger girl had always been able to make him smile and in return he had wanted to make sure that he was always there to protect her.

/Too late now genius. What ever you did must have really made them mad if they decided to send you away./ Irvine desperately prayed that the little voice in his head would shut up. He didn't want to think about what he could have possibly done wrong in order to upset the only mother and father figures he had ever known.

No one had even adopted him. They had just sent him away to some military training academy. /Galdadia Garden./ The little voice in his head supplied.

Irvine tried to block out the voice once again but he could not deny that it was correct. The man named Martine, had told him all about Galbadia Garden as they traveled from the orphanage to the huge complex that Irvine would now have to call home.

The sheer size of the place terrified Irvine. He had been accustomed to the small orphanage and nothing in his short experience had prepared him for the massive nature of the Garden. When they had arrived Martine hadn't even bothered to show him around. As quickly as possible the older man had handed him off to one of the junior teaching assistants and ordered the student to settle Irvine in one of the underclassmen dorms.

That was where Irvine found himself now and it was where he had been since he had arrived several hours ago. The bare room was uninviting and sterile. It was nothing like the orphanage. He just wanted to go home. He didn't want to stay here but he knew that he had no choice. No one had given him a choice. Martine had just showed up and Matron had informed him that he had to go with the man to his garden.

He had cried and begged with Matron but in the end his pleading had fallen on deaf ears. She was determined to send him away and Irvine had been so caught up in his emotional struggle that he had completely failed to see the look of heart-break in his beloved Matron's eyes as she told him that he didn't have a choice.

She had then led him into the bedroom that he had shared with the other children and helped him gather his things. As they were packing he had stubbornly ignored the tears that had pricked at the corners of his eyes. He had decided not to let Matron see him cry anymore and he might have escaped without crying if Selphie hadn't shown up.

She had seen him packing and immediately run to him with tears in her eyes. She had seen all the other children packing their things and leaving and the knowledge that Irvine was leaving her as well must have torn the smaller girl up inside.

Irvine remembered how the smaller girl had known her arms around his waist and immediately started sobbing. That had broken his will not to cry and he had joined her. They had been so wrapped in each other's grief that neither of them noticed Matron when she had left them alone to grieve, nor had they noticed the tears in her eyes.

He and Selphie had clung to each other long after their tears stopped. Neither of them wanted to be the first one to let go because they both had known that when they separated it would be over and that they might never see each other again.

That realization had led Irvine to promise her something. He had promised never to forget her and she had done the same. They would never forget each other. It was their promise and Irvine planned to do whatever he had to do to keep it.

The memories of his last moments with Selphie were too much and he a fresh wave of tears overwhelmed him. He could not believe how quickly his world had been ripped to shreds. He missed Selphie terribly but there was nothing he could do to change the past so he would just have to live with it.

A soft knock tore him from his sorrows and he looked at the door in panic. He wanted to be alone with his grief. However he realized that the Garden was now his home and that he would have to make the best of it. Fate had given him a path to walk and he would have to walk it. He had no choice in the manner. He would just have to form a mask to protect his soul from ever being hurt again. He would make it seem like he was happy to be at the Garden even if he was eaten away by loneliness for the rest of his life.

He used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe the rest of his tears away and slowly got up to open the door. On the other side were several boys about his age. Irvine plastered a fake smile on his face and nodded to the other boys.

"What's up?" The tallest of the guys stepped forward.

"We heard you were new and we wanted to introduce ourselves. I'm Jeremy and these are Alex, Nick, and Zephis. Would you like to go to lunch with us..." Irvine knew that the other boy was waiting for him to say his name and either accept or decline their offer so he stuck out his hand.

"Irvine. Nice ta meet ya. Now about that lunch." Jeremy grinned at him and Irvine followed the boys out of the dorm.

Maybe the Garden wouldn't be as bad as he thought but his promise to Selphie still weighed heavy on his mind. He would never forget her and he hoped that she would never forget him.

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**Review and let me know what you guys think. Should I write more? Should I write something from Selphie's POV? From Edea's POV? You tell me. I love reviews.**


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